Perl DBI

Raghavedra

Contents

Architecture of a DBI Application

Notation and Conventions
Database Connection
INSERT Operation
Using Bind Values
READ Operation
UPDATE Operation
DELETE Operation
COMMIT Operation
ROLLBACK Operation
Begin Transaction
Auto Commit Option
Automatic Error Handling
Disconnecting Database
Using NULL values

What's DBI?
DBI stands for Database independent interface
for Perl which means DBI provides an
abstraction layer between the Perl code and the
underlying database, allowing you to switch
database implementations really easily.
The DBI is a database access module for the
Perl programming language. It defines a set of
methods, variables, and conventions that
provide a consistent database interface,
independent of the actual database being used.

Architecture of a DBI Application

DBI is independent of any database
available in backend. You can use DBI
whether you are working with Oracle,
MySQL or Informix etc. This is clear from
the following architecture diagram.

What DBI Does ?

Here DBI is responsible of taking all SQL
commands through the API, or Application
Programming Interface, and to dispatch
them to the appropriate driver for actual
execution. And finally DBI is responsible of
taking results from the driver and giving
back it to the calling script.

Notation and Conventions

$dsn Database source name
$dbh Database handle object
$sth Statement handle object
$h Any of the handle types above ($dbh, $sth, or $drh)
$rc General Return Code (Boolean: true=ok, false=error)
$rv General Return Value (typically an integer)

Notation and Conventions

@ary List of values returned from the database.
$rows Number of rows processed (if available, else -1)
$fh A filehandle
undef NULL values are represented by undefined values
in Perl

\%attr Reference to a hash of attribute values passed to

method

Database Connection
Assuming we are going to work with Sybase database.

Before connecting to a database make sure followings:

You have created a database TESTDB.
You have created TEST_TABLE in TESTDB.
This table is having fields FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME,
AGE, SEX and INCOME.
User ID "testuser" and password "test123" are set to
access TESTDB
Perl Module DBI is installed properly on your machine.
You have gone through Sybase tutorial to understand
Sybase Basics.
Following is the example of connecting with Sybase
database "TESTDB"

Database Connection
#!/usr/bin/perl
use DBI
use strict;
my $driver = Sybase";
my $database = "TESTDB";
my $userid = "testuser";
my $password = "test123";
my $dbh = DBI->connect ("dbi: $driver :$database",
"$userid", "$password")
or die $DBI::errstr;

Database Connection
If a connection is established with the data
source then a Database Handle is
returned and saved into $dbh for further
use otherwise $dbh is set to undef value
and $DBI:: errstr returns an error string.

INSERT Operation
INSERT operation is required when you want to
create your records into TEST_TABLE.

So once our database connection is established,

we are ready to create records into
TEST_TABLE.

Following is the procedure to create single

record into TEST_TABLE. You can create many
records in similar fashion.

Insert record Contd..

Record creation takes following steps
Preparing SQL statement with INSERT statement. This will be done
using prepare() API.

Executing SQL query to select all the results from the database.
This will be done using execute() API.

Releasing Statement handle. This will be done using finish() API

If everything goes fine then commit this operation otherwise you
can rollback complete transaction. Commit and Rollback are
explained in next sections.

Insert Contd..
my $sth = $dbh->prepare ("INSERT INTO
TEST_TABLE (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME,
SEX, AGE, INCOME )
values ('john', 'poul ', 'M', 30, 13000)");
$sth->execute() or die $DBI::errstr; $sth>finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

Using Bind Values

There may be a case when values to be
entered is not given in advance.
In such case binding values are used.
A question mark is used in place of actual
value and then actual values are passed
through execute() API.
Following is the example.

Using Bind Values

my $first_name = "john";
my $last_name = "poul";
my $sex = "M";
my $income = 13000;
my $age = 30;
my $sth = $dbh->prepare( INSERT INTO TEST_TABLE
(FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, SEX, AGE, INCOME )
values (?,?,?,?,?)");
$sth->execute( $first_name, $last_name, $sex, $age,
$income) or die $DBI::errstr; $sth->finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

READ Operation
READ Operation on any databases means to
fetch some useful information from the
database.
So once our database connection is established,
we are ready to make a query into this database.
Following is the procedure to query all the
records having AGE greater than 20. This will
take four steps

Read Contnd..
Preparing SQL query based on required

conditions. This will be done using prepare()

API.
Executing SQL query to select all the results
from the database. This will be done using
execute() API.
Fetching all the results one by one and printing
those results. This will be done using
fetchrow_array() API.
Releasing Statement handle. This will be done
using finish() API

Read Contnd..
my $sth = $dbh->prepare ("SELECT FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME
FROM TEST_TABLE WHERE AGE > 20");

$sth->execute() or die $DBI::errstr;

print "Number of rows found :" + $sth->rows;
while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
my ($first_name, $last_name ) = @row;
print "First Name = $first_name,
Last Name = $last_name\n";
}
$sth->finish();

Using Bind Values

There may be a case when condition is
not given in advance.
In such case binding values are used. A
question mark is used in place of actual
value and then actual value is passed
through execute() API. Following is the
example.

Bind Val Contd..

$age = 20;
my $sth = $dbh->prepare( SELECT FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME
FROM TEST_TABLE WHERE AGE > ?");
$sth->execute( $age ) or die $DBI::errstr;
print "Number of rows found :" + $sth->rows;
while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
my ($first_name, $last_name ) = @row;
print "First Name = $first_name, Last Name = $last_name\n";
}
$sth->finish();

UPDATE Operation
UPDATE Operation on any databases

means to update one or more records

already available in the database.
Following is the procedure to update all
the records having SEX as 'M'. Here we
will increase AGE of all the males by one
year.
This will take three steps

Update Contd..
Preparing SQL query based on required

conditions. This will be done using prepare() API.

Executing SQL query to select all the results from
the database. This will be done using execute()
API.
Releasing Statement handle. This will be done
using finish() API
If everything goes fine then commit this
operation otherwise you can rollback complete
transaction. See next section for commit and
rollback APIs.

Update Contd..
my $sth = $dbh->prepare ("UPDATE
TEST_TABLE SET AGE = AGE + 1 WHERE
SEX = 'M'");
$sth->execute() or die $DBI::errstr;
print "Number of rows updated :" + $sth->rows;
$sth->finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

Using Bind Values

$sex = 'M';
my $sth = $dbh->prepare( "UPDATE
TEST_TABLE SET AGE = AGE + 1 WHERE
SEX = ?");
$sth->execute ('$sex') or die $DBI::errstr;
print "Number of rows updated :" + $sth->rows;
$sth->finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

DELETE Operation
DELETE operation is required when you
want to delete some records from your
database.

Following is the procedure to delete all the

records from TEST_TABLE where AGE is
equal to 30.
This operation will take following steps.

Delete Contd..
Preparing SQL query based on required

conditions. This will be done using prepare()

API.
Executing SQL query to delete required records
from the database. This will be done using
execute() API.
Releasing Statement handle. This will be done
using finish() API
If everything goes fine then commit this
operation otherwise you can rollback complete
transaction.

Delete Contd..
$age = 30;
my $sth = $dbh->prepare( "DELETE FROM
TEST_TABLE WHERE AGE = ?");
$sth->execute( $age ) or die $DBI::errstr;
print "Number of rows deleted :" + $sth->rows;
$sth->finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

Using do Statement
If you're doing an UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE there is no data
that comes back from the database, so there is a short cut to
perform this operation.

You can use do statement to execute any of the command as

follows.
$dbh->do( DELETE FROM TEST_TABLE WHERE age =30');

do returns a true value if it succeeded, and a false value if it failed.

Actually, if it succeeds it returns the number of affected rows. In the

example it would return the number of rows that were actually
deleted.

COMMIT Operation
Commit is the operation which gives a

green signal to database to finalize the

changes and after this operation no
change can be reverted back.
Here is a simple example to call commit
API.
$dbh->commit or die $dbh->errstr;

ROLLBACK Operation
If you are not satisfied with all the changes
and you want to revert back those
changes then use rollback API.
Here is a simple example to call rollback
API.
$dbh->rollback or die $dbh->errstr;

Begin Transaction
Many databases support transactions.
This means that you can make a whole bunch of queries
which would modify the databases, but none of the
changes are actually made.
Then at the end you issue the special SQL query
COMMIT, and all the changes are made simultaneously.
Alternatively, you can issue the query ROLLBACK, in
which case all the queries are thrown away.

Transaction Contd..
begin_work API enables transactions (by
turning AutoCommit off) until the next call to
commit or rollback.
After the next commit or rollback, AutoCommit
will automatically be turned on again.
$rc = $dbh->begin_work or die $dbh->errstr;

AutoCommit Option
If your transactions are simple, you can

save yourself from the trouble of having to

issue a lot of commits.

When you make the connect call, you can

specify an AutoCommit option which will
perform an automatic commit operation
after every successful query. Here's what
it looks like:

Autocommit Contnd..
my $dbh = DBI->connect ($dsn, $userid,
$password, {AutoCommit => 1}) or die
$DBI::errstr;
Here AutoCommit can take value 1 or 0.

Automatic Error Handling

When you make the connect call, you can

specify a RaiseErrors option that handles errors

for you automatically.

When an error occurs, DBI will abort your

program instead of returning a failure code.
If all you want is to abort the program on an
error, this can be convenient.
Here's what it looks like:

Automatic Error
my $dbh = DBI->connect ($dsn, $userid,
$password, {RaiseError => 1}) or die
$DBI::errstr;
Here RaiseError can take value 1 or 0.

Disconnecting Database
To disconnect Database connection, use
disconnect API.
$rc = $dbh->disconnect or warn $dbh>errstr;

Disconnect
The transaction behavior of the disconnect
method is, sadly, undefined.

Some database systems (such as Oracle and

Ingres) will automatically commit any
outstanding changes, but others (such as
Informix) will rollback any outstanding changes.
Applications not using AutoCommit should
explicitly call commit or rollback before calling
disconnect.

Using NULL values

Undefined values, or undef, are used to indicate NULL
values.

You can insert and update columns with a NULL value as

you would a non-NULL value. These examples insert
and update the column age with a NULL value:
$sth = $dbh->prepare( qq{ INSERT INTO TEST_TABLE
(FIRST_NAME, AGE) VALUES (?, ?) });
$sth->execute ("Joe", undef);

Some other DBI functions

@ary = DBI->available_drivers;
@ary = DBI->available_drivers ($quiet);
Returns a list of all available drivers by
searching for DBD::* modules through the
directories in @INC. By default, a warning is
given if some drivers are hidden by others of the
same name in earlier directories. Passing a true
value for $quiet will inhibit the warning.

installed_drivers
%drivers = DBI->installed_drivers();
Returns a list of driver name and driver
handle pairs for all drivers 'installed'
(loaded) into the current process.
The driver name does not include the
'DBD::' prefix.

data_sources
@ary = DBI->data_sources ($driver);
Returns a list of data sources (databases)
available via the named driver.
If $driver is empty or undef, then the value
of the DBI_DRIVER environment variable
is used

Methods Common to all Handles

err
$rv = $h->err;
or $rv = $DBI:: err
Returns the native database engine error
code from the last driver method called.
The code is typically an integer but you
should not assume that. This is equivalent
to $DBI:: err or $h->err.

errstr
$str = $h->errstr;
or $str = $DBI::errstr
or $str = $h->errstr
Returns the native database engine error
message from the last DBI method called. This
has the same lifespan issues as the "err" method
described above. This is equivalent to
$DBI::errstr or $h->errstr.

rows
$rv = $h->rows;
or $rv = $DBI:: rows
This returns the number of rows effected
by previous SQL statement and equivalent
to $DBI:: rows.

trace
$h->trace( $ trace_settings);
DBI sports an extremely useful ability to generate runtime
tracing information of what it's doing, which can be a
huge time-saver when trying to track down strange
problems in your DBI programs.
You can use different values to set trace level. These
values varies from 0 to 4. The value 0 means disable
trace and 4 means generate complete trace.

THANKS.